BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!

Subject: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: Arnie
Date: 29 Aug 07 - 03:47 PM

I've never really been affected by crime despite having lived in some pretty dicey areas in my youth. However, this year started with my brother (Yorkshire) having his car window smashed and Satnav stolen whilst car on his drive. Then my sister and her partner (Yorks again) had their motorbikes stolen from their garage despite them being bolted to the concrete floor! Then recently I came home early from work and disturbed two burglars working through my house (Kent) - entry courtesy of a smashed window round the back - burglars fled and police never found them. And finally last week my daughter (Kent) had her car stolen from outside her house - car now recovered minus her CD's & baby seat plus a huge dent in the front. We're obviously not the only ones though, as my wife today found a handbag on the pavement that had obviously been stolen, rifled through and then thrown away. The owner's college card was still in it so she may at least get the handbag back but not the contents. And Labour say that crime figures aren't rising, it's just our perception of crime - dream on Jack Straw and his Ministry of Justice!!

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: gnu
Date: 29 Aug 07 - 03:52 PM

Nasty business screwing down the economy so tight that young people have to resort to stealing rather than join the military and kill people in foreign lands, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: kendall
Date: 29 Aug 07 - 07:40 PM

A friend of mine here in Maine was telling me that some relative of his in New York City was coming up the river on a tugboat, and someone fired a gun at the boat.
He was appalled that it didn't even get into the newspaper. I told him that someone being shot at in NYC is not news. He broke up laughing. Sad, but true.

I'm afraid you folks in the UK have a long way to go to catch up with us. But, I hope to God you never do. What you need is a second amendment.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: bobad
Date: 29 Aug 07 - 07:50 PM

This will probably be a point of pride for American gun owners, and who's to say it shouldn't be! After all the U.S. Bill of Rights says: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."

It's hard to say how well regulated the militias are, but the keeping and bearing arms sure hasn't been infringed according to the Small Arms Survey 2007 by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International Studies. The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens. Here's some more fun facts from the Reuters story:

    U.S. citizens own 270 million of the world's 875 million known firearms

    About 4.5 million of the 8 million new guns manufactured worldwide each year are purchased in the United States, it said.

    There is roughly one firearm for every seven people worldwide. Without the United States, though, this drops to about one firearm per 10 people.

    India had the world's second-largest civilian gun arsenal, with an estimated 46 million firearms outside law enforcement and the military, though this represented just four guns per 100 people there.

    China, ranked third with 40 million privately held guns, had 3 firearms per 100 people.

    Germany, France, Pakistan, Mexico, Brazil and Russia were next in the ranking of country's overall civilian gun arsenals.

    On a per-capita basis, Yemen had the second most heavily armed citizenry behind the United States, with 61 guns per 100 people, followed by Finland with 56, Switzerland with 46, Iraq with 39 and Serbia with 38.

    France, Canada, Sweden, Austria and Germany were next, each with about 30 guns per 100 people, while many poorer countries often associated with violence ranked much lower. Nigeria, for instance, had just one gun per 100 people.



Come on Canadians, surely we can surpass France! With a little hard work I'm sure we could beat the Iraqis and Serbs too.


http://communities.canada.com/nationalpost/blogs/posted/archive/2007/08/29/big-surprise-u-s-a-most-heavily-armed-nation-with-270-million-guns-in-civilian-hands.aspx

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: artbrooks
Date: 29 Aug 07 - 08:22 PM

Wonder who has mine?

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Aug 07 - 09:02 PM

Dang. I gotta get done to the gun store and buy a few more. Gotta keep the US of A number 1, ya know.

Wait one...my 20 gauge shotgun was made in Brazil. The flintlock I'm making was made in Italy. The little .22 was made in Brazil. Norinco (I don't have any and don't want one) are made in China. Star is made in Spain. Sako comes from Finland. FN comes from Belgium. Beretta (who makes pistols for the US military) is Italian-owned. Merkel shotguns come from Germany. Baikal arms come from Russia. The old Moisin-Nagants that are being sold for USD 79.99 at that store were made in Russia. The Lee-Enfields were made in England. The Glocks our cops carry here, that's an Austrian company. CZ is Czech.

About the only people NOT selling guns to the US seem to be the Irish....

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: Sorcha
Date: 29 Aug 07 - 09:57 PM

Art, I think we might have yours.
LOL, Rap.
Don't buy Chinese guns, they might be contaminated!

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Aug 07 - 10:08 PM

You could get lead poisoning from a Chinese gun.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: pdq
Date: 29 Aug 07 - 10:09 PM

Yep, if the bullet don't kill you then the lead paint will.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 30 Aug 07 - 04:17 AM

I'm presuming your statistics are the legally owned and licensed weapons... try adding the projected illegaly owned figures in and see what happens to your demographics.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 30 Aug 07 - 04:42 AM

It's called "statistics" Arnie. You just tossed the coin heads 20 times in a row, and now when it comes up tails a few times, you say it's biased.

We lived in an inner city for 15 years without trouble, even left the car unlocked with the keys in a few times. Then we moved out to the country. First week, we were burgled. Half a year later, the car broken into. Then the boy assaulted in the street. Then burgled again and two bikes stolen. And the car again. Crime soaring in the country? No, we've not had anything for the last 11 years.

One thing that DID seem to make a difference was that ONE particular family who lived in the village moved out, when the father died and two of the sons went to jail.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: kendall
Date: 30 Aug 07 - 07:00 AM

My brother lived in the house I now own for 38 years. He always left the garage door open, seldom locked the house, and the only thing he ever lost was a solar powered string of lights that marked the edge of the driveway.Value, about $30.00.

Scarborough had a bank robbery a while back, people are still talking about it.Apparently, it was the first ever.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: Dave Roberts
Date: 30 Aug 07 - 07:54 PM

And, of course, you should also take into account the highly distorted view of everyday life in Britain promulgated by the tabloid press.
And this includes local newspapers.
My home town of Middlewich is a very safe place to live and is in the heart of a very safe county.
But, until recently, one of our local newspapers was giving the impression that the town was a hotbed of crime; that it wasn't safe to walk the streets at night, and that, to coin a phrase, we were 'all going to be murdered in our beds' before long.
Then the young maverick reporter who had written all these lurid stories (and got them accepted by the subs at the newspaper's HQ in Chester - I'd question if any of them had ever visited Middlewich, or knew exactly where it was) moved on and a sense of proportion returned.
It's a truism that the press 'has a lot to answer for' but it's a true truism.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 31 Aug 07 - 01:16 AM

In addition to alarms/signs/private alert.......I use a delightful four directional (four mini-cams) recording system that caches onto an offsite weblocation. Come or leave....your face/body are recorded while the alarm is sounding. CHEAP - two years insurance discount will cover the cost.

Do it yourself....or consult your local provider.

Sincerely,
Gargoyle

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: Wolfgang
Date: 31 Aug 07 - 02:55 AM

Ah, statistics...

My weekend home town recently has climbed place number one of all towns in the region in number of violations of the law. At the same time, the success rate in solving crimes and offenses (of all kind) has increased dramatically (means: higher than 50 %).

The reason? Two years ago, the public traffic company has started a new crackdown on fare dodgers with a massive increase of controls. Each new incidence found made its way into the crime and offenses statistic inflating the number of violations of the law to a new local high. The good side was that the sucess rate in solving crimes increased as well for if an incident of fare dodging is noticed the "crime" is usually solved in the same minute by the culprit paying the fine on the spot.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: Victor in Mapperton
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 09:30 AM

Sad news today, the latest crime figures show muggings and burglaries are up amid fears of a credit crunch crimewave. "Theft from person", which includes pickpocketing and "snatch" thefts from cars rose a whopping 25 per cent in the final quarter of last year compared with the year before, while burglaries rose 4 per cent.

The Association of Police Authorities said the 25 per cent rise was a "worrying development".

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 11:55 AM

Victor - percentages are meaningless. 25% of 4 is 1. 25% of 4,000 is 1,000. I wouldn't worry about 1 extra theft from a car, I'd worry very much about 1,000. Get the point?

What are the actual numbers involved?

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: heric
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 06:44 PM

I heard tell of a little town in Maine where most people leave their keys in the ignition. The guy who told me asked his contact in amazement don't they EVER get stolen? The guy said no somebody might take it for a little while but they always put them back.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: Rapparee
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 08:56 PM

The police here are urging people to close the doors to their attached garages. Seems that is a primary was the baddies get into a house....

There have been some slight increase in "home invasions" -- something 3 last year against 2 the year before. There's been one already this year, but the home invader was shot (slightly wounded) and is now in the county lockup. His exact words to the cops were "But he was an OLD guy!" (the householder was 53). The householder's wife stood over the baddie as he lay bleeding on her clean floor, baseball bat in hand, while her husband called the cops.

But the police look for an increase in all sorts of crimes against the person, robberies, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: CarolC
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 09:09 PM

We may have more guns in the US than in the UK, but do we have less crime?

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: Rapparee
Date: 23 Apr 09 - 09:53 PM

I've been wondering. I did some very quick checks for 2009 and crime seems to be down in Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Cincinnnati, and Denver.

All of which says nothing except that crimes are down in those cities for the first three months of 2009.

I doubt that packing a gun would prevent someone from breaking into the guntoter's car while it was in a parking lot, or a sneak thief from stealing from a mailbox, or someone committing identity theft. It might deter a burglary, maybe perhaps, but probably not. It certainly wouldn't stop "crimes of opportunity" (e.g., lock your laptop in your trunk, not on the front seat with the window open).

Unless you're a blamed fool and don't mind taking a bullet, packing a gun won't prevent you from being held up or mugged. If you come into my home with obviously malicious intent I'll do my best to see you can't walk out (not from a bullet wound, but because of your broken bones) or, if truly pushed with no way out of it, because you will be "vitally challenged." But otherwise, hell, I'll just give you the money and you can leave me alone.

Besides, the cops pack much more firepower than I have. All it takes is a cell phone and "9-1-1".

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 24 Apr 09 - 03:09 AM

Rapaire, you telephone the police and they come? That's amazing!

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: GUEST,Jack The Black
Date: 24 Apr 09 - 08:22 AM

Speaking as a criminal myself it's been hard for us as well! We have to make a living don't we?

Subject: RE: BS: UK Crime - now it's personal!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 Apr 09 - 08:17 AM

It's quite easy to get the police to come, Richard. Ring and tell them that there is a crime in progress and they ignore it. Ring and tell them that there is a crime in progress and you are going to shoot the perpetraor and they will be there in seconds!

DeG